Would you ever consider going back to work?

Not seriously thinking of going back. I enjoyed every single job I ever had, and still today I have people happy to see me for the work I did with the public. What I miss most is having answers and positive solutions for those who needed help in some way or other.
But those early wake-up hours aren't welcomed anymore.
 

I work a bit from home and quite enjoy it. Keeps me engaged in an industry I worked in for nearly 50 years, brings in extra money, and my schedule is my own. DH & I set this up with a couple of our clients 7 years ago. It allowed us to close our warehouse, reduce our staff to ourselves, semi retire, but keep our small business going on a smaller scale.

He and I have different specialties, and both parts are necessary for us to do this. He wants to be mostly finished this year. I'd be happy to stay with it longer but agreed to wind it down to almost zero this year.
 
No. If I'd had decent jobs with decent pay, that would have been be one thing. But I never got paid enough. Even when I had my own business, the work was fine, but I made very little money.

And now that I have a pension, 60% of my earnings would be deducted from the pension. If I earned a measly $15 an hour, I'd get to keep $6. Heck no.

I'm finally discovering who I am and what truly interests me. Which was not possible when I was selling my life. Or, as @C50 put it, when others were "stealing my time."
 
NorthernLight said:
I'm finally discovering who I am and what truly interests me. Which was not possible when I was selling my life. Or, as @C50 put it, when others were "stealing my time."
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If work was entertainment, the boss wouldn't have to pay you to do it. It isn't stealing if you willingly trade your time and talents for the ability to obtain goods and services that others have traded their time and talents to provide.

Knowing we were the owners, customers often had the nerve to ask for discounts, free shipping (does UPS ship for free?), and special favors. We'd point to our employees, inventory, general setup, and the truck in the parking lot, saying, "This isn't a hobby. It's how we pay our mortgage and put food on the table."
 
StarSong said:
If work was entertainment, the boss wouldn't have to pay you to do it. It isn't stealing if you willingly trade your time and talents for the ability to obtain goods and services that others have traded their time and talents to provide.

Knowing we were the owners, customers often had the nerve to ask for discounts, free shipping (does UPS ship for free?), and special favors. We'd point to our employees, inventory, general setup, and the truck in the parking lot, saying, "This isn't a hobby. It's how we pay our mortgage and put food on the table."
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Yes, as a wise friend once put it, "That's why they call it work."

But some people say their work is "rewarding." My point was that I never had a job like that!

In my business, I also hated having people ask for discounts. Especially at the beginning (before I found more serious clients). People would want me to help them for peanuts, because their project was "a labor of love." Not for me it wasn't.
 
horseless carriage said:
My working life was always stimulating, I loved it. The last twelve years of work I ran my own business with my brother as a partner. At the end of that twelve years we had a bad debt, a customer had gone bust owing us money. My brother suggested that it might be time to call it a day. We sold the business for quite a considerable amount.

Two years later, that same brother had brought his golf handicap down to single figures, I, on the other hand, having no such consuming past times, had spent most of that time writing a book about my wife and I and our adventures in our vintage MG car.

A chance phone call from a former client, along the lines of: "What are you doing?" That always means, "I need help but etiquette requires an opening remark that is innocuous." "You have a problem?" I said. "Alan has been diagnosed as having a TIA." The former client explained, adding, "he must take a year off." then went on with a little flattery, "you know every crack and crevice in this industry, would you help us?" The year was 2010, I was 64. Alan had his year's recovery and is back to full health, he is still working there. How do I know? I'm still working there too. 76 and still going strong.

As a postscript, I have just had a litmus test as to whether it's time to call it a day. New Year's Eve, my wife and I came down with covid, I have been off work, isolating and have now been negative for over a week. Tomorrow I start back and the litmus test shows that I am looking forward to it. Work is about horses for courses. If work is a means to an end and the sooner that end comes, you are off, good luck to you. But if work is a stimulus and going there is not a drudge, then go for it. I don't do it for the money but I do admit that the pay does make life rather comfortable.
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Some people love what they do. I love to write and run my website. It takes a lot of time. Some might consider what I do as work but I don't. I feel like what I'm doing is giving back and maybe even helping someone along the way.
 
katlupe said:
If it was something I could do from my computer at home. Getting up, hurrying around to get to work is not something I would want to do again. Nor would I want to have to deal with people or having to be talking on a telephone. Actually I am happy being retired and having my time being my own.
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I agree 100%
 
C50 said:
One thing I truly love about being retired is living by my own schedule. If you think about it from the moment we are born our schedule is dictated by others, there's always someone stealing your time.

So no I will never go back to work, not even on a part time basis. I will never give up control of my time again.
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There's something to be said about being on your own schedule. My time is too precious and gets even more so the older I get.
 
Michael Z said:
No. Plenty to do around the house, yard, and garden to keep me busy! Physical 1+ hour workouts 3 days a week. And 2 days a week are for weekly shopping, ministry, church, and sabbath rest.
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Good plan. Sounds like you've got this retirement gig down.
 
Youngster said:
Some people love what they do. I love to write and run my website. It takes a lot of time. Some might consider what I do as work but I don't. I feel like what I'm doing is giving back and maybe even helping someone along the way.
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Back in the early 60's, rising star David McCallum, had a small part in: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Originally intended as a vehicle for Robert Vaughn, it turned McCallum into a sex symbol, his Beatle-style blond haircut providing a trendy contrast to Vaughn's clean-cut appearance. McCallum's role as the mysterious Russian agent Illya Kuryakin was originally conceived as a peripheral one. McCallum, however, took the opportunity to construct a complex character whose appeal rested largely in what was shadowy and enigmatic about him. Kuryakin's popularity with the audience as well as Vaughn and McCallum's on-screen chemistry were quickly recognised by the producers, and McCallum was elevated to co-star status.

McCallum has enjoyed an illustrious career in film, TV and on stage, so you might be forgiven for thinking that he has hung up the scripts and gone of to the actor's rest home. Not David, at the age of 70, in 2003, McCallum starred in the CBS television series NCIS as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, the team's chief medical examiner and one of the show's most popular characters. In Season 2 Episode 13 "The Meat Puzzle", NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) asks Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), "What did Ducky look like when he was younger?" and Gibbs replies, "Illya Kuryakin." With series lead Mark Harmon's departure from the show in the autumn of 2021 (Season 19), McCallum became the last remaining member of the original NCIS cast. On September 19th 2023, David McCallum will turn 90. Retirement Ducky? We shall see.
 
horseless carriage said:
NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) asks Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), "What did Ducky look like when he was younger?" and Gibbs replies, "Illya Kuryakin."
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That's hilarious. Love inside jokes!

Thanks for the update on McCallum. I had a wicked crush on him when that show was running. I remember it - and him - well.
 
Michael Z said:
No. Plenty to do around the house, yard, and garden to keep me busy! Physical 1+ hour workouts 3 days a week. And 2 days a week are for weekly shopping, ministry, church, and sabbath rest.
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There's plenty around here to keep me busy too.. especially in summer. The gardens need constant attention.. and with the housework etc.. there's lots to do every day.. but I miss the company, the people.. , and I miss structure. Don't get me wrong I hate routine.. and I've pretty much always had jobs where every day is different,.. and I don't miss getting up at 5 or 6 am.. but I do miss a structure to my week...
 
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